By looking closely at three different couples in 'Pride and Prejudice'explore what Jane Austen suggests is necessary for a successful marriage.

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Introduction

Hye-Rin Ra 10 F By looking closely at three different couples in 'Pride and Prejudice' explore what Jane Austen suggests is necessary for a successful marriage. 'Pride and Prejudice' was written by Jane Austen in the early nineteenth century, when it was vital for women to marry well to safeguard their future. Unlike today every woman had to marry as there were not any chances for them to bring money to their family or to support themselves. For that reason marriage was a serious business, and it was a market in Jane Austen's world. Therefore Jane Austen's novels deal a lot with marriages, and her novels are very different from modern novels. As a matter of fact, sometimes it is very hard to appreciate them as life for women is very different today. From what I know about Jane Austen, her life and her experiences are reflected a lot in her novels, especially in 'Pride and Prejudice': the Bennett family is just like Jane Austen's family, Jane came from an upper middle-class family and she was one of seven children. I feel that Jane's mother strongly resembles Mrs. Bennett in that they were both more practical than romantic, and more realistic than sensitive. ...read more.

Middle

This is a decidedly unsatisfactory union, and although a marriage of convenience (economic) is better, it is still not the answer. Secondly, I am going to look at a practical marriage where a marriage is made because of money security. The main example of the mercenary marriage is the couple of Charlotte and Mr. Collins. It fact, this marriage does not involve any love, but Austen shows reader that the marriage was successful enough. Since Mr. Collins and Charlotte got what they both wanted to get. Charlotte is a 'sensible, intelligent and realistic' woman, who is pessimistic about finding a happy and romantic marriage. Jane Austen uses Charlotte to give her opinion to readers that a women like Charlotte who is practical, clear-sighted, and fully able to handle Collins and their marriage is better to choose financial marriage than end up being an old maid. Also in Jane Austen's time, without financial stability, people literally starved to death, and the building of a family circle with a sound economic base was therefore very important. Therefore the Lucases are delighted and start to 'speculate about Mr. Bennet's death', when their daughter will take possession of Lougbourn. Charlotte's pessimistic view on marriage was clearly shown when Lizzy said that Jane does not yet know Bingley well enough to decide whether she is in love with him or not. ...read more.

Conclusion

At last, she comes to appreciate the justification of their union, just like Darcy has overcome his prejudice. Jane Austen clearly tell us through the union of Darcy and Elizabeth that by going through harsh and hard times, they change and they learn about each other so their mutual knowledge grows, their respect grows and their esteem grows and these make their marriage ideal. By looking at these three different marriages, I am certain that Jane Austen does not approve of a marriage based on 'youth and beauty' as she shows us the bad consequences of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's and Lydia and Wickham's marriages. I think that a mercenary marriage may be successful in that a selfish husband and wife will achieve what they want. I think that Charlotte has 'a degree of contentment'. But I don't believe that Jane Austen's ideal marriage is a mercenary marriage because she values esteem, respect, money, honesty and love to be vital for a successful marriage. As a matter of fact, it is because Jane Austen in her own life rescued herself from choosing a practical marriage with Harris Bigg-Wither. I believe that Lizzy and Mr.Dary's marriage was the successful marriage in Jane Austen's view since they mapped out each others' faults, understood each other's behaviour and reached a true understanding: the strongest love, combined with everlasting esteem and respect. ...read more.

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Again, it is possible to comprehend Mrs Bennet's urge to marry off her daughters to any eligible and unknown man; to ensure that the Bennets will not be left destitute at the death of Mr Bennet. Mrs Bennet's gall is once again provoked when Elizabeth refuses Mr Collins' marriage proposal.

Mr Darcy attempts to warn him away from Jane as he feels that she does not reciprocate the feelings that Mr Bingley so clearly expresses for her, and Mr Bingley's two sisters are uncivil towards her sister Elizabeth and her behind their backs, and try to separate Mr Bingley and her.

He believed Lizzie was jokingly rejecting him saying, "that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes a refusal is repeated a second or even a third time."

So when Lydia reveals her feeling towards him, he jumps at the chance to obtain a wife. Therefore, Lydia and Wickham reasons for marry were desire, attraction and financial problems. The marriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet was not love, like Jane and Bingley.

During Pride and Prejudice, neither of them changes and they come to no new self-discovery. However, this doesn't matter as they are so alike. With Elizabeth's lively nature and Darcy's seriousness, they complement each other perfectly. At first, Elizabeth despises Darcy because she thinks he is very proud and has treated Wickham wrongly.

Austen uses irony in the word 'accidentally' to show that Charlotte hopes for him to fall in 'love' with her and he does. The narrative explains: "But little had she dared to hope so much love and eloquence awaited her there."

She had misjudged Darcy terribly because he had insulted her at her very first meeting with him at the ball where she overheard him speaking about her to Bingley. Despite their wrong ways at the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth and Darcy secure a successful relationship in the end, which is based on their equality of intellect.

When she tells him that her feelings have undergone a radical change, "the expression of heartfelt delight" that covers his face and "The happiness, which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before," and he expresses himself in a more delighted way but without embarrassing himself or Elizabeth.